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Oral History Program

Gerald Punches

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This interview was conducted with Gerald Punches on March 21 st, 2006, at his
home in Port Orchard, Washington. The interviewer is Tamara Belts.
TB: Today is Tuesday March 21st, 2006 and I am here with Mr. Jerry Punches.
He did sign the Informed Consent Agreement and we are going to do the
Campus School questionnaire and also talk about some pictures that he has
here. Here we go, let‟s start with this group of pictures then.
GP: As I recall, part of the questionnaire said „where did you live when you
were in Campus School?‟ The address of this home is at 500 North State Street.
It‟s about two or three blocks down from the campus itself and it‟s on the
corner of State and Cedar on the northeast corner. This house burnt down.
TB: I was just going to say, this isn‟t quite what it looks like!
GP: It has been replaced by some three-level structure there right on the corner. But this home was the
home that my parents and I moved into when we went to Bellingham in 1948. We bought the home from
Raymond Hawk. He moved up the street. He was in the 400 block of North State Street. It was a little bit
larger but it was still on State Street. It was on the hillside between State and Forest Street. That was one of
the nicest places we ever lived. My Dad didn‟t know how he could ever afford it because it cost $9,500!
[Laughter]
TB: That was a lot then.
GP: It was. This is a picture of my Father. I‟m not sure when it was taken, but judging from the suit he‟s
wearing, it‟s probably around 1950. That‟s what he looked like when he was a teacher in the school.
TB: Excellent.
GP: It doesn‟t look a whole lot different than this picture. This is taken in 1948 just after we moved to
Bellingham; that‟s me, my Mother and Father.
TB: So you‟re an only child?
GP: I certainly am. My Father always said it was better to raise one big one than a whole bunch of little
ones!
TB: Your Father looks like a really cheery guy, was he?
GP: He had a nice sense of humor. Did you ever wonder where mine came from? [Laughter] This is
something that came out of the archives that I got from my Father. I wrote something on the back of it here.
It says, “Frank Punches serving salmon to Dr. and Mrs. W.W. Haggard, President of the College; WWCE
Summer Conference 1956.”
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Gerald Punches Edited Transcript – March 21st, 2006
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©Western Washington University Libraries Special Collections
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TB: Excellent; that‟s a wonderful picture.
GP: Well you can have it or give me a copy of it.
TB: Yes I would love to take it in and scan it. I‟ve never seen a picture of Haggard at a barbeque. I assume
this is a continuation of the ones that they had. They used to always have summer [salmon] barbeques.
GP: Yes, they had one every summer up there. Here‟s something that I just dug out. It doesn‟t have a date
on it but it has got to be around 1948. You can probably have this for your museum if you want, it‟s a
Christmas program. Actually I put something down there, 1948. Anyway, it‟s a Christmas play that was put
on by the kids in the junior high school.
TB: Excellent.
GP: This is all the participants.
TB: And you were Helger, a peasant boy.
GP: I was! It‟s got a lot of names you‟ll recognize. You can use this for whatever thing you want. The last
thing was this (referring to the Alpha-Omega Yearbook). I‟ve got two of these. This came out of my
father‟s stuff. It‟s been in a box somewhere. You‟ve probably got one of these things, don‟t you? If you
don‟t, there‟s a spare copy because this is mine. It‟s the Alpha-Omega; I‟m sure somebody has told you the
story. It‟s the first and last campus yearbook.
TB: Now why did they call it that?
GP: Go to the Greek section of your library and find out what alpha and omega [mean].
TB: They are the beginning and the end.
GP: There you go! You picked right up on it didn‟t you? It‟s the first, the last, the only Campus Junior
High yearbook. I don‟t know if you‟ve read through the thing or not. I go through this stuff just to kind of
kick my memory into gear.
TB: Keep going, yes.
GP: I‟m reading it upside down, but these are people that I knew: Dr. Haggard, Raymond Hawk (p. [4]).
These were the teachers at the junior high school (p. [5]).
TB: Back up and tell me a little bit more about what Dr. Haggard‟s involvement with the Campus School.
Did you see him very much? Did he come to assemblies?
GP: No, he was the president of the college. I‟m not even sure what the enrollment was up there. 2,000?
3,000? It was a very small school. We didn‟t really see him all that often. We saw Dr. Hawk once in a
while because his family and my family were social friends as well. I saw him probably more than
anybody. Well, more than any of the other Campus School people. Like I said, I only lasted two years at
the Campus School. I started there when I was in the seventh grade. Seventh and eighth grade then they
shut it down and I and the rest of my classmates either went over to Fairhaven Junior High or to Whatcom
Junior High. We finished the ninth grade there and then we all met again when we went to Bellingham
High School.

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TB: What was it like coming in for you, as a seventh and eighth grader? Was it easy to fit in with them or
were they already kind of a tight-knit group? Do you think because your father was a teacher that helped
you assimilate better?
GP: You know that never crossed my mind. The class wasn‟t all that big. I didn‟t count it there but there
couldn‟t have been more than twenty people all together in the seventh grade. Most of them had come up
from the Campus School itself. I‟m trying to think. Maybe Bob McDonald and I were the only people that
joined the class in the seventh grade. We both came in at the same time.
TB: Is that Dean [Bill] McDonald‟s son?
GP: There are lots of McDonald‟s on the campus. Dr. David McDonald was Bob‟s father. He was in the
[education] department. Bill McDonald was in the athletic department. He‟s the one they named the
Parkway after. Yes, I knew him too.
TB: I‟m sure you knew everybody. I mean, you would automatically in a small community like that. And
with your father being on the faculty you probably got to know most of the faculty.
GP: Well, faculty in the education department, yes. I‟m just not familiar with the numbers of faculty and
students there were at the time. It could have been very small, but I didn‟t know everybody, that‟s for sure.
Anyway, those were the teachers there. Leslie Hunt was my seventh grade teacher.
TB: What was she like?
GP: She was a very professional lady. It‟s kind of hard to talk about any teacher because they ran a lot of
student teachers in at the same time.
TB: Right.
GP: As the student teachers‟ supervisor she would come in. She was kind of an enjoyable lady. You
wouldn‟t call her friendly but she was someone you could talk to if you wanted to, or she‟d chew you out if
you did something wrong!
TB: Keep you guys in line.
GP: That‟s what she did. And then my dad was my homeroom teacher in the eighth grade, but he shared
that chore with Willard Stradley. It was kind of interesting, too, because Willard moved from the Campus
School over to Fairhaven when they moved the ninth grade over so I ran into him over there again. Later on
I always regretted that I never did try to see him. He went down to Arcadia, California to Humboldt State
University and he was on the faculty down there. I wish I had looked him up when I had the chance but that
was kind of an out-of-way place down there so I never did see him after we parted in Bellingham. Jean
Shephard was the ninth grade teacher. I never did know much about her except who she was.
TB: What was it like having your dad for a teacher?
GP: Again, we had a lot of student teachers flowing through. In fact, the pictures that they have later on
where they talk about the student teachers, all of these teachers were teachers that we had to deal with
while my father was the supervisor (p. [8]). I didn‟t have all of these but I probably had about four or five
of them throughout the year and they did most of the teaching while my father did other things. I can‟t
remember to this day whether [the junior high] was on the third floor or the second floor. It probably would
have been on the third floor because there was an auditorium on the fourth floor in the south wing of Old
Main and they had an access from the dressing room area or backstage area of the theater up there that went
down to the third floor which came right into my father‟s office! So any time he wanted to get out of Dodge
City, I think he could go right up the stairs and disappear and nobody would know he was gone!
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Gerald Punches Edited Transcript – March 21st, 2006
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TB: That‟s convenient!
GP: I think there was maybe a tiny adjoining room but I think it was two rooms where we had the eighth
grade. The teachers I had, I wonder if I can remember who they were. Well I remember Winifred Marion,
Ed Hickenbottom… boy! See how the memory goes?
TB: I think Jim Roberts went on to be a district superintendent for Bellingham and Richard Green went on
to become the assistant superintendent for Bellingham. They are both still alive and so is John Abrams. I
recognize those names because we just sent off questionnaires to them.
GP: The names just don‟t come back.
TB: Is Hickenbottom the one that had been in the service?
GP: Yes he was. In fact, I was thinking that he might have been the guy that gave me my first airplane ride.
TB: Really? Wow.
GP: Could have been, I might have it all screwed up! Back in 1947 my folks took me to the airport in
Pullman and it was my birthday. They had this little stunt biplane out there, and they wanted to know if I
wanted a ride. I think it was Hickenbottom that was there (that‟s why my dad knew him) and he took me up
for my first airplane ride.
TB: Wow.
GP: If I‟m thinking of the right guy, he was a Marine fighter pilot in World War II, which is why he knew
how to fly a biplane. I think later on he probably graduated from Washington State and then went to
Western. Like I said, I might be all screwed up on that one. But it was an interesting experience for me. The
rest of the student teachers I didn‟t really know about. I sent you a letter from when I was in the seventh
grade. My coach was Pinky Erickson. Pinky was a guy I used to play ping-pong with all the time. That‟s
while I was in the seventh grade because he finished school before this was out (referring to the yearbook).
He doesn‟t show up here in this particular thing but he was the basketball coach, my first basketball coach
when we were in seventh grade. Calhoun and I both made the team as seventh graders!
TB: Did you guys not have a football team?
GP: Are you kidding? What did we have, eight guys? [Laughter]
TB: I was going to say because Pinky goes on to have a famous career as a football coach.
GP: Yes he does and he was a student teacher for my father in 1948 and 1949. The reason I sent you that
letter was because it had one of my recollections of when I was in seventh grade. Everybody liked Pinky, it
didn‟t matter which grade you were in. Like I said, he was there and I played ping-pong with him all the
time but he was my dad‟s student teacher. One day he brought this little baby into school. He said, “Look,
class!” It turns out that was Dennis Erickson and was probably in the spring of 1949, sometime in there.
That‟s when that happened.
TB: Do you know how he got the name „Pinky‟?
GP: No; his real name was Robert. I think everybody wanted to know why they called him Pinky but I
never did get an answer to that one.
TB: It wasn‟t until your letter that I actually heard his name because he is always just called „Pinky‟.
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Gerald Punches Edited Transcript – March 21st, 2006
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Why don‟t you tell me about the Alpha-Omega yearbook? It looks like pretty much your whole class is on
it, or a good representation.
GP: That‟s for the seventh, eighth and ninth grades and I‟m not sure if I‟m on it or not. Well actually, I‟m
back there (p. [9]). Catharine Stimpson was always the honcho on these kind of projects.
TB: Yes, she‟s editor-in-chief there.
GP: Yes; are you in contact with her at all?
TB: We sent her a questionnaire but haven‟t heard back from her. She actually was one of the later ones we
sent. Everybody says if we can get all the Stimpsons, we‟ll have the whole story of Campus School because
there were seven of them! We‟ve only heard back from Mary.
GP: Yes; she‟s in [Maryland]. You don‟t have Susan?
TB: She‟s on the committee but she‟s never filled out the questionnaire; maybe she will.
GP: And her bratty little sister Caroline? [Laughter]
TB: She‟s the one we don‟t have an address for. I think I‟ve heard she‟s in Maine. Do you know what her
married name is?
GP: MacDonald. He was a legislator in the [Maine] House. I think his name was Torbert MacDonald
[Torbert Hart MacDonald, Jr.], something like that. I was going to give her a bad time if I ever saw her!
TB: Well maybe I‟ll find her.
GP: Doesn‟t she communicate with her sisters anymore?
TB: She probably does; none of them other than Mary have responded. I don‟t always push. We mail out
the questionnaires and then we hope people will respond and if they don‟t… Susan is maybe too close to it
since she is on the committee. I hope she does at some point.
GP: I can send an e-mail to Catharine. I call her „Dodie‟ you know!
TB: I think I heard that! I think I heard she had a nickname. Send her an e-mail. I did just send her the
questionnaire.
GP: Well this is a whole bunch of people, I kind of lost track of most of them (p. [9]). Are you interested in
anybody here in particular?
TB: Which one is was Butch Brand?
GP: Butch is this guy right here, that is Robert Roy Brand.
TB: We got him. We‟ve heard from Bruce Trafton.
GP: You‟ve got Trafton? That‟s this little guy right here.
TB: He still has his basketball uniform. He said we could have his basketball uniform.
GP: How did he get that?
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Gerald Punches Edited Transcript – March 21st, 2006
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TB: I don‟t know.
GP: That‟s Marcia LaVeille, Gary Wagner, Gwen Campbell. They didn‟t identify these people, did they?
That‟s Lee Brand. He and Rob are cousins.
TB: Oh! We just heard from Lee.
GP: Is he down in Palm Desert?
TB: Yes, I think he is.
GP: That‟s the last time I saw him; that was when I went down there to play golf about thirty years ago!
TB: I know he just called last week and talked to my boss.
GP: This was Marilyn Walter? Yes, I think Marilyn Walter. And that‟s „Dodie‟.
TB: Do you now why they called her „Dodie‟?
GP: Well, I don‟t really know. We just started calling her „Dodie‟ or „Toad‟ or something along those
lines. She‟s still working, you know. I keep telling people that she‟s probably got the same retirement plan
as CBS because Mike Wallace and all those old guys can‟t ever quit working and she‟s got the same
mindset. I suspect that if she retires, she has to pick up the tab for her own healthcare. That‟s why she keeps
working.
TB: Maybe, or maybe she just likes it, she‟s a bright lady.
GP: Yes, she‟s the dean of the graduate school [of Arts and Science at] New York University. I guess that
pays the rent!
TB: I would think so!
GP: I‟ve threatened to go to New York and call her up sometime. How about Beret? Have you heard from
her?
TB: Yes, she‟s been helpful.
GP: She‟s down in Olympia; and that‟s Ann Kingsbury.
TB: She‟s on the committee, she‟s being helpful.
GP: She knows everything that goes on here. That‟s Don Hartman. He was with us for a while but he only
stayed through the seventh grade I think and then his family moved someplace else.
TB: And you don‟t know what happened to him?
GP: No. That‟s Dick Warner back there. I don‟t know what happened to him. He was a grade behind me.
That‟s Celia Onkels. She‟s had kind of an interesting life.
TB: I don‟t know her. I know the Onkels name, I recognize that. What happened to her?

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Gerald Punches Edited Transcript – March 21st, 2006
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GP: She got married and divorced to a guy she was going with at the University of Washington. We were
all students at the University of Washington at the same time. His name might come to me eventually. Then
she wound up down in Miami or Miami Beach.
TB: Is she the artist?
GP: Could be. I‟m trying to stretch something out of my memory here. Hogan! That‟s her name. Celia
Hogan was her artistic name, or her married name. She did interior design work I think. I would have
thought that Ann would have been in touch with her or maybe Nancy.
TB: It might come in later.
GP: That‟s Nancy Scheldrup.
TB: I‟m pretty sure I‟ve heard from her.
GP: She‟s over on the east coast; Boston I think. That looks like Allene Ross.
TB: That must be Dr. Ross‟s daughter. She passed away?
GP: She died, yes, at a very early age. She was only about twenty two or twenty three when she died.
TB: What happened?
GP: I‟m not sure. I can‟t remember.
TB: Wow, that‟s sad.
GP: That‟s Karen Sahlin. You are dealing with an old memory here!
TB: No, that‟s great.
GP: That‟s Ernie Graham.
TB: We‟ve heard from him.
GP: Oh you have? He used to be in Puyallup or something, some place down there. Edgewood? He‟s got I
think a doctorate in psychology and he taught at Pacific Lutheran as a professor there.
TB: I think he completed the questionnaire online.
GP: Here‟s this guy, you‟re talking to him right now!
TB: Yes! And he‟s got on his Campus School sweater! Excellent! But you don‟t have your sweater
anymore?
GP: Well that‟s what I was kind of looking around for. I thought I had a big chest of stuff up in the attic.
That‟s where I got some of this stuff. I left a lot of things at home when I went to college. The picture of
the house I showed you, the one that burned down. When we moved to Bellingham, the property that we
got included a vacant lot right next to that house. It‟s where the old Catholic Church used to be. The house
beyond that where the Nix family lived was the Parish house or the place where the priest lived. But that
little area was just a big vacant lot. It had an old fish pond in it that my dad put together for goldfish and
stuff like that. But sometime in the early Fifties my dad decided that he would like to build an apartment
complex there. He got together with another guy and they built the two-story apartment complex that‟s at
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Gerald Punches Edited Transcript – March 21st, 2006
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504 North State Street right now. I think that later on he sold it to a guy named Louie Lallas, who was the
director of placement up there, he succeeded my father. I think Louie added a third story onto that thing
because it was built for that. So if you go back there I think there are three stories up there now on that
particular thing. Sometime in the early Fifties after I went to school, about 1955 or so, that building was
completed and my mom and dad moved into an apartment on the upper level at that time and they rented
out the two places on the lower level. One was to Synva Nicol.
TB: Oh, right, the Kindergarten teacher.
GP: Yes. And I can‟t remember who the other one was. Anyway, down at the bottom of that thing was this
big trunk of mine that had all this stuff in it. I think that‟s where that sweater and that letter are. So the next
time you go to Bellingham you might ask somebody, “Did you find an old trunk in here?” It‟s got all this
old stuff in it!
TB: If you find it, just to let us borrow it, I think would be great. We have found a letter. Someone had a
letter because she was a cheerleader; she had the „C‟. I‟m sure it was the same kind of letter you [boys]
had.
GP: Yes, a blue „C‟. It was the same colors as Western. That‟s Sue Green as I recall. Is she on there?
TB: Yes, Susan Green.
GP: That was John Green‟s younger sister. Where is John? He‟s down in… I want to say [Healdsburg],
California.
End of Tape One, Side One; Start of Tape One, Side Two.
TB: Excellent. Is that Kathryn Davis? We just saw her name, right?
GP: That is, she‟s at Fresno. That‟s Kathy Davis. She may have been married and gone on with her life
now. I think she lost one of her children.
TB: Oh no.
GP: But it‟s a place to start.
TB: I should have brought the list. We may have her.
GP: Where were we here? This is Sally Moren, right?
TB: Yes, she‟s ninth grade.
GP: Yes! I just saw her here. She‟s married to Bert Lindman. Bert Lindman is in my class in high school.
He went to Whatcom. That‟s Gwen Campbell and Rob Brand. This is Gary Wagner and I haven‟t heard
from him in a thousand years! Do you want to turn the page?
TB: Sure.
GP: Here‟s some more stuff, student council officers (p. [10]). It looks like more of the same people
doesn‟t it?
TB: How did that go? Did you change [officers]? They have two presidents. Did you go half a year [with
one] president and the other half somebody else?
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GP: I think that‟s the way it worked but I can‟t remember.
TB: I know we‟ve heard from Larry Johanson and Jerry Larson. Curtis Smith is on the committee.
GP: Jerry Larson is alive and kicking. Curtis is selling books! [Laughter]
TB: That‟s the most popular book in Special Collections!
GP: I should have bought that thing!
TB: And we‟ve heard from JoAnn Knapman and Rob Brand.
GP: Where is JoAnn these days?
TB: She‟s still in town, Bellingham.
GP: I didn‟t know that.
TB: I think her married name is [Praetzel].
GP: I have no idea. Is that Patricia Morse? Pat Morse?
TB: She‟s still in town (Bellingham) and goes by that name, too.
GP: Well, I haven‟t seen her since this picture was taken. That‟s my friend the Reverend John Calhoun.
John R. Calhoun. That‟s „Dodie‟ Stimpson and Beret. That is Andra Lee Brand.
TB: And that‟s Rob‟s sister?
GP: His older sister.
TB: So she‟s a year ahead of you?
GP: Yes; she‟s in Bellingham or she was at the reunion we went to.
TB: I think she might be in Bellevue, but she‟s in Western Washington.
GP: That‟s Sue Green and this is Becky Boroughs. That is not who I thought it was. Yes, that‟s Becky
Boroughs. It wasn‟t Allene Ross, I‟m sorry about that. That‟s yours truly again. This is Nancy Barnett? I
don‟t know. That one escapes me. That little guy peeking out there is Chuck Lappenbusch. He was at the
fiftieth reunion here last year for the class of 1955 I guess it was. Antoinette Graham, Gary Wagner, that‟s
Jack Payne. That is Lynn Michel, that‟s Kay Williams, she is Mrs. Gomer Owens living in Bellingham.
TB: So she‟s Kathleen Owens?
GP: Yes. They were both in the class of 1954 at Bellingham High School. That‟s Rob Brand and Jerry
Larson. Is that Larry Johanson? Is that his name?
TB: Boy, he‟s small!
GP: Don‟t tell him that! Yes, here he is, Larry Johanson. [Laughter]
TB: I think he lives over on one of the islands, doesn‟t he?
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GP: Yes, he‟s on Orcas. That‟s Karen Sahlin, Curtis Smith. I think that‟s Karen. Is she on there?
TB: Yes, she‟s the vice president.
GP: Curt Smith, a noted dentist around town and book salesman. That‟s Celia Onkels and JoAnn
[Knapman].
TB: There you are; so tell me about your Play Day, you were the general chairman (p. [11]).
GP: Which was that? Student body activities?
TB: Yes; March 23rd at Whatcom Falls Park.
GP: Oh man!
TB: Don‟t remember much about that?
GP: Not at all.
TB: That‟s okay.
GP: I guess we just got all this stuff going and away we went. But the names are interesting. Jerry Ann
Fickle, I don‟t remember her. Dixie Dunn has kind of disappeared off the face of the earth. Dee Dee
Mulhern has died according to her brother Jack. Dee Dee was a year ahead of me and I think Jack was a
year behind. Sidne Countryman…
TB: We‟ve heard from her I think, and her brother is Keith.
GP: John Mustacich, I haven‟t seen him in a while. Gwen Campbell I think was at the reunion. Kay
Williams. Mary Jane Sefrit, I have not heard from her. Her older brother went to Campus School. Her name
has probably changed. Jack Payne…
TB: Jack Payne is in Bellingham.
GP: Mavis Regier, I don‟t know what happened to her; Sally Moren, Adell Ross. Mac Kuhns, I haven‟t
heard from him for a while. Andra Brand is a girl!
TB: Andra Lee.
GP: Grant Smith, oh dear. I haven‟t seen him for a while either.
TB: He‟s one of the Western Roofing kids, right? His father owned Western Roofing?
GP: I think so. He had a younger brother, too.
TB: Winton I think.
GP: Butch Brand, Dick Warner, Jack Larson …
TB: Oh, Jerry‟s little brother then.
GP: Jerry‟s little brother, yes; Jack was in my class.
TB: They are at least a two-generation family because their mother went to Campus School, too.
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GP: Yes; they lived right down from Campus School on Twenty-first Street. Twenty-first Street doesn‟t
exist anymore; they built the campus over it! Let‟s see, this is Ann Kingsbury, I saw her at the reunion. She
just lost her husband not too long ago.
TB: Richardson, too? I know her first husband Rogan Jones died young, he had MS or something.
GP: Yes, he did. That was a real tragedy and a shock because he was only about 42 or something like that;
a very nice, brilliant guy. He went to Yale I believe. We played on the Campus baseball team together
when I was in the seventh grade. I worked my way up to be the pitcher and he was the catcher. He was two
years ahead of me. He won‟t show up in this book but he‟s a Campus School guy and he died too young.
Ann remarried Dick Richardson. He just died this last year. Bob Cederstrom I saw at the reunion. He‟s the
class of 1955. His father was on the faculty at Western also. I don‟t know where he was from; Keith
Countryman, Gail DeGrace …
TB: I have not heard that name before.
GP: That‟s a “him.”
TB: Oh! Gail is spelled the way I associate with being women.
GP: I know. Well if you are in touch with Ann Kingsbury, she‟ll tell you about Gail. She knows more
about him than anybody. He went down to California somewhere. He has probably got a picture in here
somewhere. Marilyn Walter …
TB: Was that Dr. Walter‟s daughter?
GP: Don Walter in music?
TB: Yes, is that his daughter?
GP: I think so. Don Hartman I told you about briefly. He left after the seventh grade. Gerald Micholson. I
can vaguely put a picture on his face. I think he stayed through high school but he and I weren‟t close at all.
Celia, I told you a little bit about her. I also heard at the reunion that she might be down in the San Diego
area now, I don‟t know. Leib Alexander, I know too much about him!
TB: Those are the best stories!
GP: Yes. Tom Trammell.
TB: Do you know what happened to him?
GP: No, I don‟t.
TB: At least that‟s a distinctive name.
GP: Bruce Trafton.
TB: He‟s in Eugene I think.
GP: Marguerite Smith. I haven‟t heard anything about what happened to her. I just don‟t know. Russell
Rude …
TB: Do you know what happened to him?
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GP: Well I saw him at the Campus School reunion we had. When was it, ten years ago?
TB: 1993; so he‟s probably on our list then.
GP: Jerry Larson, he was at last year‟s thing, I saw him two years ago. Catharine, when did I see her last?
She was giving a guest lecture series on women‟s issues and so she came to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo,
where I was employed at the time as the registrar. I went to see her lecture.
TB: And what did you think? Did she recognize you?
GP: Oh heck, I knew she was coming because somebody asked me if I knew her or something. I said,
“You’ve got to watch out for this girl!” She came down there and gave her lecture and Helen and I took her
to lunch. We had a good time. But that was about the last time I‟ve seen her. I‟ve done some
correspondence with her via e-mail so I know where she is. She is somewhere in New York. Paddy Jukes, I
saw her at the reunion for the class of 1955. She seems to be doing fine. I didn‟t recognize her. You know,
women change!
TB: That‟s what we say about men! Women change, too? Everybody can change.
GP: Don Cameron. I‟m trying to put a face on that. It will come to me. There is probably a picture in there.
Myrna Harmer, she was at our reunion. She lives down in Ventura, California. I think I‟ve got her married
name somewhere. I might be able to get something to really help you with some of these people. Jon
Franklin, that one escapes me. Chuck McEvoy. It‟s coming back hard!
TB: Tell me about that. You went to visit Fairhaven because that‟s where you were going to transfer.
GP: Yes. We were the eighth graders. We were going to go over there and become part of the ninth grade
class. We had a day where we went over there. We knew a lot of the people that went to Fairhaven. The
boys played ball with them and there were a lot of neighborhood kids. We had a big neighborhood and they
all went to Fairhaven and we went to Campus. It was basically a really easy thing to do. Yes, the junior
high only existed for thirteen years.
The ninth graders are a year older than me (p. [14]). I guess it‟s got everybody down here, who‟s who? Is
that Marilyn Walter? It could be. That‟s Chuck McEvoy up there. Tom Trammell is this guy way back
here, he was kind of a big kid. Sidne Countryman is this girl right here. Donald Andrus, I think he died.
TB: I think he did, too.
GP: Nancy Barnett, I don‟t know, that might be her. Becky Boroughs, we identified her before, is right
there. Andra Brand is this one. Sidne Countryman is this one. Barbara Hansen, she‟s tall, there she is, a tall
blond. Paul Hanson; where is the founder of Mount Baker Savings and Loan? That‟s Trammell in there.
Paul Hanson isn‟t shown here. LeRoy Hurd and I played basketball together. Larry Johanson is this one up
here. Jerry Larson is this one. Chuck McEvoy is that one. Gerald Micholson is this one I think (don‟t quote
me on it). Sally Moren is here. Alice Adelia Mulhern, I know that‟s her. Janet Rathman, I‟m not sure about
that. Mavis Regier, I think that‟s her right there. Allene Ross. She and Becky looked an awful lot alike.
That‟s why I made that mistake! She died at a very early age, too. Russell Rude is back there. Karen Sahlin
is there with the glasses. Curtis Smith, he‟s in there. Gary Smith is right there and Tom Trammell. Marilyn
Walter should be this one right here I think. So the ninth grade I didn‟t know a lot about, well, I knew
them, but not as well as I knew people in my own class. I can‟t even remember if I saw this or not. So I
don‟t know about all this sort of stuff, baby pictures from ninth graders (p. [18]). I‟m sorry, I can‟t
recognize any of those. But get into the eighth grade here and now we know a few things (p. [20]). Let‟s
see, they ought to have little numbers on all these things!
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TB: To tell who people are? Yes.
GP: There are only a few people I think that can do what I‟m about to do. Maybe a lot of other people have
figured it out. In the top row up here, upper left, you start with Bob McDonald.
TB: So he was your friend that came in the same year you did?
GP: Yes, our fathers joined the faculty the same year, the fall of 1948. He came up from Riverside. He‟s
currently living in Holland, Michigan.
TB: Oh, you sent me his address, that‟s right.
GP: Yes. That‟s Leib, that‟s Bill Davis, that‟s John Green. That is Jim Wallin. Jim Wallin had an affliction
of some sort [and] it took his life when he was about nineteen or twenty years old. Something was haywire
in his brain. I can‟t even remember what it was. He had to live in an institution after the got out of high
school. It really became bad. I‟m not sure what it was. Is that Vince Mustacich? It should be. Do you have
him down here?
TB: Yes.
GP: That‟s Mustacich, yes, that‟s him. That‟s Myrna Harmer, Marita Longstreth.
TB: Her father was a doctor I think.
GP: Well I was playing golf somewhere and I ran into a guy named Longstreth and I said, “I knew a lady
named Longstreth a long time ago.” He said, “Marita?” And I said, “Yes!” So we had a long chat about that
but I don‟t remember much more of the conversation. Anyway, that‟s me back there, that‟s Ernie Graham,
that‟s Mike Lockwood. Have you heard from him?
TB: It doesn‟t sound familiar to me. I don‟t remember him.
GP: The last I heard he was in Fairbanks, Alaska.
TB: Well we do have some people up in Alaska although I think one of them is Mimi Eddy. Who did you
say that was?
GP: Mike Lockwood is this guy here. They ought to number these people! How are you going to remember
them after you‟ve left! I guess somebody else will figure it out. This is, well we called him Harry Gates but
he didn‟t like Harry Gates so he wanted to be known as Don Gates. If you are looking for Harry Gates you
might try looking for Don Gates! He never did like that name. Back over here, that‟s Gwen Campbell, Ruth
Rairdon, Catharine Stimpson and Jan Van Aver. Her father was on the faculty.
TB: I think we‟ve heard from her; her brother Phil is in New York.
GP: That‟s Marguerite Smith. I gave you Ernie before didn‟t I? That‟s Kay Williams. That‟s Ann
Kingsbury, Nancy Scheldrup, Celia Onkels, Don Hartman, and Robbie Calhoun. His name is John
Robinson Calhoun.
TB: And he always went by Robbie at home I think, right? And then when they got to school there were
already a couple Johns in his class and so the teachers called him by Robbie.
GP: I don‟t know. He was born in Chicago. He was adopted by his father and mother, the Reverend
Willard Calhoun.
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TB: Oh! I don‟t think I ever heard he was adopted.
GP: Well he was, that‟s why [his middle name is Robinson], the family‟s name was Robinson.
TB: His original birth family?
GP: Yes, so that‟s why he became John Robinson Calhoun. He‟s a very good friend of mine.
End of Tape One, Side Two; Start of Tape Two, Side One
GP: Moving right along, this is Dixie Dunn, that‟s Adell Ross, that‟s Marcia LaVeille, that‟s Beret
Funkhouser, that‟s Mac Kuhns, that‟s Gail DeGrace in case you ever wanted to know what he looked like a
long time ago. That is Jack Larson.
TB: So Jerry was in the class ahead of you?
GP: Yes.
TB: So do you remember some of the activities that you guys did?
GP: Well as a matter of fact, here‟s a whole list (p. [21])! Do I remember them? I have no idea. I know
we had Splash Parties. We went over to the gym over there and we had Splash Parties. What was the name
of that gym? Was it Carver Gymnasium?
TB: Well it became Carver but then it should have just been the Gym [Physical Education Building].
GP: Yes, well, we would go over there and we would have a little Splash Party.
TB: What‟s a Splash Party? You would just get in the pool and splash each other?
GP: You go and put bathing suits on and you swim for about an hour and then do something else. We
swam or played in the gym from seventh to eighth and after eighth we danced in the eighth grade room.
TB: Now where was the eighth grade room, your classroom?
GP: Yes, it was up on the third floor I think, south Old Main. Do you have a layout map of those facilities
for the junior high school?
TB: No, we‟ll have to find it. We have a map of the Campus School itself but not of the junior high. And I
want to find one because it will help all of us remember what it was like.
GP: If you are looking north along Old Main it was on the southwest corner where you have the auditorium
in the corner of the building there. If you go down one flight from there, you‟ll run into my dad‟s office and
adjoining that would have been the eighth grade room. If you went out into the hallway going north and
turned left into a corner room; that was the seventh grade room. Then you‟d turn right and go down the
hallway and there‟s that horrendous long passage in Old Main that goes forever. You would go down the
end of that and the ninth grade room was down kind of on the east end of that wing and then they had a
little canteen room where we would sell candy and snacks or we could go play cards or do something like
that – kind of a recreation room. Then between them there was a stairwell that went all the way down.
Down on the first floor under the area where the seventh and eighth graders were was the boys‟ locker
room. You would go to the right as you would come in that entrance on the south end and go to the right.
It‟s now a big lecture hall but that used to be the gym.
TB: Now I think it‟s the Old Main Theater.
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GP: Is it? Could be.
TB: From what people have said I think that‟s what it is.
GP: These are music things; music goes in one ear and out the other for me!
TB: Oh wow, that‟s like somebody predicting the future (p. [22-23]).
GP: That was.
TB: I would be curious to see how much of that came true!
GP: Hardly any of it I would bet!
TB: So Ruth Rairdon must have been really religious. Ann Kingsbury, [sounded] like she might have been
artistic.
GP: Oh yes, she is. I‟m a sportscaster it says here.
TB: There you go!
GP: Ernie is playing ball. Well here‟s the future (p. [24])!
TB: Robbie Calhoun wanted to be a pro athlete. Where are you at? Gerry Punches wanted to be a
millionaire!
GP: Yes! I‟m working on it! [Laughter]
TB: That‟s fun; “Typewriter mechanic – Don Hartman.” Wow! Ernie Graham wanted to be a bat boy for
the Boston Red Sox!
GP: Yes!
TB: “Anything except writing things like this” is John Green!
GP: In the seventh grade have you got somebody you are going to interview (p. [26])? Rob‟s in that class,
Rob Brand.
TB: Yes, we did do him, and he clued us on to Pete Gaasland.
GP: Pete is living up in Blaine I guess.
TB: He has some business or something in Bellingham because I noticed he had a Bellingham address.
Now Bob Funkhouser must have been Beret‟s brother?
GP: Yes, let‟s see, it‟s got them all listed here: Lee Brand, Rob Brand you know about. Don Cameron. Bob
Cederstrom. I don‟t know all these. Kathy Davis, there she is with glasses and braces!
TB: Attractive in seventh grade!
GP: Yes, we were all that way! Paul Everett, Bob Funkhouser. I saw him at the reunion of the class of
1955. He‟s doing alright. There‟s Myrna‟s little sister, Holly Harmer was the smallest girl in the class right
here.
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TB: Her name sounds familiar. I might have just dealt with her.
GP: Well I can get you her older sister‟s address. Do you know Myrna Harmer?
TB: I‟ll have to figure out who we don‟t know from your class and see if you know where they are.
GP: John Mustacich is Vince‟s little brother. I lost track of him for just a minute there. Jack Payne, Grant
Smith. Grant Smith is the younger brother of Gary Smith. That‟s the Smith connection that I was trying to
come up with. Bruce Trafton, Gary Wagner, Karen Wallin is the Jim‟s younger sister. She lives down here
in Gig Harbor I think. I met her at the reunion. She lives down there by the Narrows Bridge. I don‟t know
what her new name is.
TB: I remember mailing something to somebody in Gig Harbor, so hopefully it‟s her.
GP: The rest of this stuff I don‟t know anything about!
TB: Let‟s finish looking through that and then maybe we can run through the questions because maybe
you‟ll be able to expand a little bit.
GP: Sure; let‟s go see what we all did here, “Drama and music (p. [31]),” The Taming of the Shrew (p.
[32]).
TB: You were the narrator.
GP: I was? I don‟t remember doing that. What is it, my dulcet voice? [Laughter] I don‟t know how I got
into these things; probably because I couldn‟t act!
TB: Well do you remember that? Did they do a lot of theatrical kinds of things?
GP: They tried to do something like this one. That was presented on April 26 th and this was on April 18th
(p. [33] The Stolen Prince) so we were doing a lot of that stuff and had everybody kind of involved with
one thing or the other. I don‟t really know. I showed you that little thing from Christmas. I don‟t think they
have that in here, it might be, who knows. That would have been from the year before this was printed.
TB: Oh right, 1948.
GP: There‟s all your musical people (p. [34] The Orchestra). There‟s a bunch of girls there.
TB: Not surprising.
GP: And the chorus is the same way (p. [35]).
TB: That‟s because you guys were probably out doing your sports. So tell me about basketball.
GP: This was the eighth grade team that I was on. This was the last year they had basketball there (p. [38]).
These people are all identified, aren‟t they? Larson, Calhoun, Jack Larson, Gerald Micholson, the manager,
Jerry Punches, Chuck McEvoy. Oh good! I‟m glad I got that connection there now. Don Andrus, Paul
Hansen [not in picture].
TB: Was this when Pinky Erickson was your coach?
GP: That was the year before, this year I think Willard Stradley was the coach.
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TB: He was your eighth grade teacher also, right?
GP: Yes; I don‟t think they had a guy who was ready to coach or could coach or something. I don‟t know
what the problems were.
TB: Do you remember roughly how long your basketball season lasted (when it started and when it
ended)?
GP: It probably started in the middle of November for practice. We had a few games in December and then
through January, February, March. We would usually have a game on Thursday or something, or Friday.
TB: Were they afternoon games?
GP: Yes, because we would have to go to some other school I think. We would play around the county and
go to Lynden, Ferndale and places like that.
TB: When you would play at Western, what gym did you have the game in? Was it the Campus School
part or was it in the big gym?
GP: It wasn‟t in the big gym because it was sectioned off. It had some half-court things. It wasn‟t the main
court that we played on, it was one of the cross courts I think.
TB: But in the big gym?
GP: Yes, it was in the big gym.
TB: Do you remember Sam Carver?
GP: Sure.
TB: What was he like?
GP: I just knew him to look at him.
TB: So he didn‟t have too much involvement?
GP: No.
TB: Well it says he is the director of boys‟ activities (p. [38]). But it didn‟t impact you boys too much?
GP: No. I keep missing Paul Hanson. Wasn‟t he in this stuff?
TB: What about your baseball team (p. [39])?
GP: What I remember is, “We’re going to have a picture over by the library.” “When?” “Now.” “How
come you aren’t in uniform?” “Now? Why didn’t anybody tell me?” So off I go. Here‟s the rest of the team
in uniform. That‟s why I‟m sitting up there!
TB: You missed some kind of [announcement].
GP: Something like that. I don‟t know. There‟s Jon Franklin. This isn‟t right. They‟ve got Jerry Larson.
This is LeRoy Hurd. This is Pete Gaasland. They left out Jerry. Rob Brand. Ernie Graham, Harry Gates,
Jack Larson. Back row: Mike Lockwood, Lee Brand on third, John Green on first, Jerry Larson (catcher).
That‟s not Jerry Larson! This is Gary Wagner.
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I do a bunch of genealogy and I look at pictures that people have left me. I turn them over. When was this
taken? Who are these people? Couldn‟t somebody just have sat down and done something like that (written
that information down)?
TB: The problem is, at the time people know who they are! We have some of those in our family, too.
GP: So this is what I‟m doing here. I‟ll put this thing in here. That is Gary Wagner at first, Robbie Calhoun
(center field), Don Andrus. There‟s a picture of Don Andrus! Russell Rude (left field). Let the record be
corrected!
TB: So do you remember some significant baseball games or have significant memories of the baseball
games?
GP: Of course! See that? “Jerry Punches – pitcher.”
TB: Alright! So did you pitch some no-hitters?
GP: We went to Meridian. I pitched a no-hitter!
TB: Excellent!
GP: The Meridian team had another great pitcher, too. He also pitched a no-hitter!
TB: So this was a 0-0 game!
GP: It should have been. I can‟t even remember who it was. The thing I do remember about it was we had
a guy on our team, it was Ernie Graham, he‟s on here somewhere. Ernie was a good ballplayer. We were
saying, “Ernie, hit this ball!” And it went through the hole into right field. But Ernie was kind of slow, so
the right fielder picked up the ball and threw him out at first! Dang it! We could have avoided a no-hitter if
Ernie could have run faster! I think we eventually lost because we bobbled a lot of things but that‟s the way
it went.
We didn‟t have a competing football team. We played intramural teams and [had] swimming class.
TB: You played tennis (p. [40])!
GP: Well yes, that‟s just to go lob a ball back and forth though. The cheerleaders! There‟s Allene and
Andy and Dee Dee and Sally.
TB: They liked to take pictures on the front of the library because there have been a couple pictures taken
on the library steps. That‟s the library steps again.
I love that (referring to quote in yearbook); “Cabbages are green, carrots are red, it’s been a nice year, but
you’ve got rocks in your head.” John Green. “Don’t marry her for money. Marry some baby who will call
you honey for your money.” Harry Gates.
GP: There you go!
TB: Words of wisdom there for you!
GP: Oh yes.
End of Tape Two, Side One; Start of Tape Two, Side Two
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Alumni Questionnaire
TB: How did you happen to attend the Campus School?
GP: Well, that was easy, my father got a job at Western starting in the fall of 1948. As a brand new
“faculty brat,” I had preference for getting into the Campus School. I think all faculty sent their kids to the
Campus School unless the kids wanted to opt out of it for some reason.
TB: Was it at all difficult coming in at seventh grade by being a new kid or was it easy to be assimilated
into it?
GP: It was real easy. Like I said, the class was not that big. In fact, how big was the class? Did we ever
make a count? Let‟s see. There were about thirty people in it. So it wasn‟t all that big of a class and that
might be [part of it]. It was a very cordial group. Most of the kids were socially compatible and need I say
brilliant.
TB: That‟s good.
GP: We didn‟t have any problems then.
TB: That group would have been in Campus Elementary School up through sixth grade, so physically,
seventh, eighth [and ninth] grade would have been separate over there in Old Main.
GP: But it was the same kids and like I said it was just Bob McDonald and me. We were the only ones who
came in seventh grade.
TB: What were the years and grades of your attendance?
GP: We started in the fall of 1948 through the spring 1949 and then 1949 and finished in 1950. In the fall
of 1950 we all had to transfer over to either Fairhaven or Whatcom Junior High and finish up ninth grade
there.
TB: Where did you live when you attended the Campus School? I know you showed me a picture, [what
was the] address?
GP: Yes, that was 500 North State Street. It was on the Northeast corner of the street there. That was a
house that was formerly owned by Raymond Hawk, who was my father‟s boss. Raymond sold that house to
my dad and then he moved down the street to the middle 400s.
TB: So was that the house you moved into then right when your [family] came to town?
GP: Yes it was, that burned down. If you go down there now you will see a brand new three-story condo
complex or something there. The garage is still behind it!
TB: I‟m going to go look for that trunk! Do you remember what you guys did for lunch?
GP: Old Main on the third floor I believe on the south end was where seventh, eighth and ninth grade
classes were held. In that complex right on the side toward Sehome Hill they had a little recreation room or
a lunchroom kind of set out for you. We had a little canteen there where we could go buy candy bars or a
Coke or something like that, play cards. I think we had our lunch there.
TB: Do you remember any of your favorite classmates and can you tell me a little bit more about them?
Like Robbie Calhoun?
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GP: Well let‟s see, are any of them lawyers now? [Laughter]
TB: Good point!
GP: We had some regular guys that we ran around with. I ran around with Robbie Calhoun, Leib
Alexander, Bob McDonald, Bill Davis and maybe one or two others. We were kind of close as a group. I
don‟t know why it came out that way, but that‟s just the way it was.
TB: Alright; and then you had also listed Catharine Stimpson.
GP: Yes! Later on when we were in high school we would all go over to what we called “Dodie‟s place”
on South Forest Street. We would play cards at her place or listen to music. We always had a good time at
her place. It was a mansion because her father was a doctor, so we loved going over there! They had a
tennis court, too. And Bob McDonald‟s house was only about half a block away from that. I could walk
there no problem.
TB: So it made a nice gathering place. Tell me about your favorite or most influential teachers. What was
Miss Hunt like? We talked a little bit about her.
GP: Like I said, we were exposed to a lot of student teachers and the principle teacher wasn‟t too involved
with our daily activities, but once in a while we would have to have a wrap on the knuckles because we did
something offensive to the student teacher. It was all in good fun. Of course, I have to say my father was
my most influential teacher but it wasn‟t because of anything he did in the classroom.
TB: How was that? Do you have any other thoughts about him as a teacher when you were in your class?
Was it kind of filtered out because of all the student teachers?
GP: [It was lessened] because of all the student teachers. He had a few things. I think he had to put me
down one time because I did something that I shouldn‟t have done and it embarrassed him and so I learned
a lesson -- don‟t goof around in my father‟s class when he‟s teaching because I‟ll get double whatever the
punishment is!
TB: Do you at all remember trying to take advantage in any way (as a class) of the student teachers? Or
play jokes on them?
GP: Of course we did but I can‟t remember what they were. I really liked Pinky Erickson when I was in the
seventh grade. Like I said, he was a good athlete, he was my coach when I was in the seventh grade. I can
still remember a day when I was sitting in a typing class and he came up to get me. He came into class and
he says, “There’s a game on today.” “Maybe he’s come to get me.” And he was! I got to go suit up for the
game as a seventh grader and I got out of typing class!
TB: Alright!
GP: Yes; Pinky was a real nice guy and like I said, a good athlete. I spent a lot of time learning how to play
ping pong with that guy. I became a fairly decent ping pong player because of it.
TB: Now where was the ping pong table at?
GP: It was up in that hallway between the entrance to the eighth grade and the entrance to the seventh
grade.
TB: Do you remember what kinds of learning materials you used?
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GP: I believe they‟re called books. [Laughter] And pencils that sharpened up.
TB: Did you have regular school textbooks then, not materials created by your teachers?
GP: I think they relied mostly on books for that. Of course, we had access to the library if we had research
projects to do. We could go over to the library; they had an extensive collection there.
TB: Who helped you in the library? Was that Mr. Hearsey?
GP: We knew Herb Hearsey because he lived close to where the McDonalds lived.
TB: Did he help you do your library research or was that Miss Snow?
GP: Miss Snow, that sounds somewhat familiar. But we would go to the library quite a bit and we knew
how to be quiet and do our business and then get out of there.
TB: What kind of grading system was used when you were there?
GP: Letter grades.
TB: Do you especially remember any creative activities? You talked about woodshop.
GP: Woodshop, yes, I built a footstool in woodshop.
TB: Do you still have it?
GP: I don‟t know. I told you what‟s in the basement of the apartment unit at 504 North State, it‟s not the
one on the corner, it‟s the one next to it where my folks lived.
TB: Do you have any thoughts about what it was like to be observed so often by student teachers?
GP: I never thought much of it.
TB: You had came from a [different] background though if you came in seventh grade, but it still [didn‟t
bother you]?
GP: I didn‟t ever feel like I was being observed. We‟d have our task assigned to us. Of course, everybody
evaluates everybody else. I can remember one time we were doing some basic math – fractions or
something – they were teaching us in seventh grade. I was sitting there and they gave us an assignment so I
sat down and I did them all and I got all finished in about five minutes and everybody else was still
working on it. She looked at me and said, “How did you get that done so fast?” I said, “I just do it this
way.” What had happened to me was, I had spent the sixth grade at the Edison School in Pullman,
Washington. They had showed me how to do math that way. So I came to the seventh grade at the Campus
School and I didn‟t have any idea that it was any different anywhere else so I just started doing it the way
I‟d been taught. Boom! I get through there ten minutes ahead of everybody else! “Boy, is that guy smart!”
No, I just knew something different.
TB: That‟s interesting. You probably don‟t remember how else they were taught math. Some people seem
to have got out of Campus School and not be very good at math and you learned your math somewhere
else.
GP: From the perspective of sixty years of hindsight and some liberal attitudes that I know about, I can
offer some theories and I‟d certainly get killed for saying it!
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TB: We don‟t want anybody to get in trouble here! We talked a little bit about this, but what out-ofclassroom activities did you enjoy the most and what did you do at recess, lunchtime, etc?
GP: We‟d all congregate down in that little lunchroom or break room that I talked about. As I recall,
canasta was a card game that people were trying to learn at the time so we‟d spend some time at that. Let
me think, I was involved in the athletics -- intramural football, basketball, baseball. We had a few science
experiments that we played around with. I can remember once we were trying to make some volcanoes
with steam and clay and all that sort of stuff.
TB: That‟s pretty cool; any other specific thoughts about the transition when you went from Campus
School to public school, the differences there?
GP: Let‟s see, that would have been ninth grade going over to Fairhaven [Junior High]. Honestly, I can‟t
recall any differences. As I mentioned earlier, we knew many of the kids that we were going to be joined
with simply because we were in the same neighborhood. They had all gone to Fairhaven, they didn‟t go to
Campus, they went to Fairhaven on the south side of Bellingham. We just joined up and met a few people
we‟d known all our lives but never gone to school with.
TB: Since you came to Campus School late, did you have any other thoughts about how different it was
from the public school experience you had before that?
GP: Not really. One interesting thing that you might have noticed, Willard Stradley was involved with the
eighth grade activities at the Campus School. But when the transition took place, he went to Fairhaven. So
he became one of my ninth grade teachers as well. There is hardly any transition because a person doesn‟t
really come in and adapt a whole different set of skills or attitudes or teaching methods. I didn‟t notice any
difference.
One difference that you do notice, at Campus School everything was kind of taught in one classroom to the
same group. When you got to the ninth grade, you had math in one class then you‟d go to English class
somewhere else and PE or woodshop, things like that.
TB: You said that Mr. Willard Stradley and your father both taught you in eighth grade. How did they kind
of divvy up their job?
GP: My father was a student teacher supervisor and a lot of his work took him out of the Campus School to
other schools. He went around to all schools in the county. Student teachers, they placed them in different
areas all over; Nooksack Valley, eventually down into Edison, Bow and Everett. I don‟t know how far his
range was, but he had to be out there going to visit those schools quite a bit as part of his regular
assignment. So they needed somebody to kind of hang around there in the eighth grade and do supervisory
work there, too. Stradley was that person.
TB: What other further education did you pursue?
GP: The school of hard knocks!
TB: You have a lot of credentials here!
GP: I went to the University of Washington for three years and found out I was on the wrong career path
there. I said enough of this and went down and saw my good old Navy recruiter and he says, “Well, we can
put you into the ‘Navcad’ program because you’ve got at least two years of college.” I said “Okay, that
sounds good to me.” I joined the Navy in the fall of 1957. They sent me down to Pensacola in January of
1958. I went through the pre-flight training program and spent a year there at Pensacola and six months at
Corpus Christi, Texas. I got my commission and Navy wings in August of 1959. Then I was on active duty
on the east coast for another three and a half years.
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TB: And you went to Vietnam.
GP: Well, not quite at that moment. Once I finished my tour of duty then I thought I better go back to
school. I got out of the service and by then I was married and had a child on the way, so I was back at the
University of Washington trying to finish up and get that elusive degree! Little did I know how difficult
that would be, just because all the credits that I had accumulated were in the wrong place. If you needed to
switch majors or alter your career path, you had a long way to go. You know, I [took] that advice to heart
because later on in my life I became a counselor to lots of people in a college environment and I made it a
real point to start figuring out where people were, what their aims were, what they found was easy for them
to do, what was difficult for them to do. I said, “I am going to take it upon myself to get these people going
in the right direction.” I hope I have achieved some success in that.
TB: Well I noticed you came back to Western to get your bachelor of arts in education.
GP: See, then I spent another year in Seattle at the University of Washington and I added a few more
credits but I didn‟t get anywhere closer. The Navy guy called me up and asked me if I wanted to come back
in and be a flight instructor. I said, “Okay.” My wife at the time was certainly anxious to do that, so we
hopped in the car and we drove to Florida and I was stationed at Pensacola for about three years. That was
from 1963-1967. Then this little activity flared up in Southeast Asia so the Navy says, [“Do you want to
go?”] I said, “Okay.” We‟ll stay in for the duration of that one. I was assigned to an aircraft carrier as the
ship‟s company and flight deck officer. I made a tour of Vietnam in 1967. Then by 1969 this business of
not having a college degree kind of caught up with me as they were winding things down in the war. I
didn‟t have any career possibilities in the Navy, so I got out again. This time I came back to Western and I
knew what I wanted to do then. My Dad helped me a little bit, too. He said I could parlay some of my
experience in military and get some credit or waving of some courses so I could get a teaching certificate. I
put some of these old science credits to use, I got a degree in…what the heck was it? I don‟t know!
TB: What was it like being on campus at Western in 1969? That‟s when we were our most revolutionary.
GP: 1969, 1970 is when I was there. I was married at the time. I had a second son born then. He was born
in Bellingham as a matter of fact.
TB: They were having some protests during that time frame in Bellingham, did you not think anything
about it?
GP: I basically ignored the protests. I can understand what protests are all about, I just don‟t happen to
believe in them.
TB: What else could you do I guess? You either participate or you don‟t.
GP: Yes. I finished up with my physical science – that‟s what it was, physical science – degree, education
and physical science degree. I could teach science and math courses, so I did student teaching in those
fields. I finally got my degree in the spring of 1970. They opened up this new program in college student
personnel administration. That sounded like fun. I‟m not sure I wanted to go out and teach in the public
schools but being a college administrator didn‟t sound bad at all. This is again where my father‟s influence
came in, he was the director of placement at the time. I knew a little bit about how organizations work, I
thought that‟s not such a bad thing. I went through that program, the college student personnel program,
and I finished it up in 1971; I got my master‟s degree. I somehow managed to get a job down in California
at this small country school called Cal Poly! It was right at the time when there was a hiring freeze that had
been lifted by Governor Reagan. I went down there. I was staying in the reserves at the time so I got a
military flight out of Whidbey Island and flew down to some place. It was Vandenberg Air Force Base. I
took the bus up to San Luis Obispo, had my interview, got a flight back. I think the whole trip cost me
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thirteen dollars! Anyway, I was fortunate enough to be a qualified candidate and so I got the job down
there as registrar.
TB: Wow, so that‟s basically where your career was then, right?
GP: Yes. I spent twenty one years down there.
TB: And then you also participated in a doctoral program.
GP: I did; I still had the G.I. Bill. This is one thing I didn‟t have when I got out of the Navy for the first
time in 1963. I didn‟t have the G.I. Bill. I didn‟t have a way to keep going on things. [But] I still had [the]
G. I. Bill left [in 1971], so I went down to the University of California at Santa Barbara. I drove down there
once a week for classes. I did that for a year and half or so. I completed about twenty-five or thirty credits,
post-masters degree credits. Then the G.I. Bill ran out and frankly I lost interest. I talked to many people on
the faculty at Cal Poly. They said, “You’re getting a degree in what?” “Education.” “Pick a subject field!
Do psychology, do something! Not education.” I knew a lot of guys who had a doctorate in education who
were out looking for work, overqualified! There‟s something about this that I don‟t understand! I think I am
beginning to see what it‟s all about here. I just quit doing that because I didn‟t know where I was going
with that stuff.
TB: Any thoughts about how attending Campus School influenced your life?
GP: Not really; you can‟t put your whole life thing and trace it back to one school.
TB: Actually now I‟ll shift gears a little bit because I think we went through the Campus School
questionnaire. Do you have anything more to say about how you happened to choose to attend Western
when you did finally come?
GP: Well there was a lot of familiarity with it. Before I had joined the Navy, I left the University of
Washington after three years. In the fall quarter of 1957 I had enrolled at Western and started into a few
classes there. Then I got my military orders so I had to drop out. So I had been enrolled at Western before.
Besides, it‟s a pretty good school, as you might know!
TB: Yes, that‟s great. Then your first job after leaving Western was at Cal Poly as the registrar and you
stayed there pretty much for your career.
GP: Yes.
TB: Are there any personal achievements you would like us to know about such as awards, citations,
decorations or personal bests of any sort? Were you the “Outstanding Registrar of California” or anything
like that? [Laughter]
GP: I‟m not sure. I‟m kind of one of these guys that is sort of low-key. People will laugh at that, I‟m sure.
I‟d get some letters of recognition or some accommodations and whatnot for doing things but I kind of
work under the radar so to speak -- this needs to be done, I‟ll go do it. And it gets done.
End of Tape Two, Side Two; Start of Tape Three, Side One
I‟m not one who goes out and looks around for things to do. I‟ve been president of a bowling league. I‟ve
been president of the men‟s golf club down here for two years. I was president of a Navy Reserve
organization down in California.
TB: When you were a student at Western, since you were already a family man, where did you live?
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GP: When I first went up there it was a little apartment complex down there south of the campus. Then I
bought a house down on Larrabee Avenue, which is right across the street from the elementary school on
the hill there.
TB: It might be Larrabee School.
GP: It might be Larrabee, it‟s right across the street from it, 1906 Larrabee. I know that was the address
that I lived at. There‟s a school right across the street and my son attended the first grade there.
TB: Do you have any favorite memories of these experiences?
GP: Not specifically. By that time I was in my mid-thirties or older and that was quite an age difference
between me and most of the other kids that were going to school there.
TB: Who were your favorite or most influential teachers? We like that question! Now we‟re talking about
when you were a college student.
GP: First of all, I have to remember who all they were! There was [Bill MacKay]. That was in the master‟s
degree program, and Merle Kuder. These guys were all friends of my father, so it‟s kind of difficult for me
to not know who these people were.
TB: Tell me a little bit about Merle Kuder because I hear his name all the time. What was he like?
GP: He was a very engaging kind of person, very provocative. He would ask you questions, educationally
speaking, that would cause you to think about things and the answers that you had. You‟re asking me
things that took place close to forty years ago now! The memories are just kind of fading away but see, I
remembered a couple of names!
TB: Very good, very good. What about your dad? Your dad you mentioned already but he influenced a
little bit of your career since he was in placement, influencing you to go into the Student Personnel
Program, any other thoughts about that?
GP: It‟s hard to dissociate my father from a mentor. They are kind of one and the same, you know? We
would have chats about things; where am I going? What am I doing? It‟s interesting that that‟s what I did
with my kids. Both my kids, they are two different kids. One needed to go in one direction and one needed
to go in another direction. And they are very stable kids, I might add. They are doing fine. I hope that
influence from my father has been passed along and will continue to be passed along.
TB: I don‟t know if you want to elaborate on your main course of study at Western?
GP: What did I do? I was filling in all the holes that I hadn‟t filled in when I went to the University of
Washington. I had to have a lot of psychology courses and education-related courses and fill in some of the
science stuff for my bachelor‟s degree in physical science. I don‟t know I would have to go look at a
transcript or something!
TB: Were you ever sorry that you got out of the sciences then, since those had been your favorite classes?
Did you ever miss that?
GP: No, not really. What I found out was that my mind isn‟t oriented toward scientific things. I‟m more of
a conceptual thinker. I have some ability to process mathematical stuff and scientific things, but it‟s
nowhere near as good a mind as is necessary to move on in science. That‟s a hard concept for people to
understand. The president of Harvard got fired because he made a difference or a distinction between men
and women. He said men are pretty good at this analytical stuff and if you look at the top, women aren‟t up
there. But if you look at the conceptual things like artistic and music things that are different, there are a lot
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of women. They said, “You can’t tell us that kind of stuff! We don’t want you around here!” It‟s not
politically correct.
TB: What did you enjoy most then about being on campus? Our question is, what activity did you enjoy
the most?
GP: I was a married guy when I was there. Of course, I enjoyed watching the campus change. Where
you‟ve got that big fountain in Red Square used to be my practice field! That kind of stuff. I used to be able
to go over to the gym and do some gym ratting, just playing ball and things like that. They built all these
new buildings down there heading down toward Twenty-first Street. They‟ve got all these dorms up there
now on the hillside. There just used to be this one little thing there!
TB: Yes, it has changed a lot.
GP: I moved to [Bellingham] in 1948 and I was there living near the campus or going up there quite a bit.
Even when I was in high school I would go up there and do a lot of research projects. My uncle also went
to Western. He was my mother‟s brother. He started at Western in 1937 or 1938.
TB: What was his name?
GP: John Cornwell. He was up there until the war broke out and then he went into the service and became
a Navy flier. He served on aircraft carriers throughout the Pacific theater flying torpedo bombers. Then he
came back to Western in 1945, 1946 or whenever the war was over. We visited him then. We weren‟t
living up there then, but we came in 1948. My uncle and my dad, they‟ve all had a big association with
Western, so I‟m just kind of naturally attracted to the place.
TB: Excellent.
GP: It‟s like home to me.
TB: Excellent; any other thoughts about either your time at Campus School or your time at Western or any
other thoughts about your father‟s career at Western?
GP: Most of what I have are the memories of the time, of the place when I was there. I used to go to the
football games that they had over at the old Battersby Field. Since then they‟ve had Civic Stadium built and
I don‟t even know where that is! I would watch the basketball games at the gym when I was a kid. I can
remember going up there and watching Johnny O‟Brien play when he was from Seattle University. Wow!
All-American! I remember guys like Dick Ravenhorst from Lynden, the basketball player. Some of these
guys became my childhood idols and whatnot, so I remember all that. Of course, during the Sixties I wasn‟t
there. In the Seventies I was just there as a little bit older student. My parents lived there at the time, so I
had my Mom and Dad; he was still working there. We all had family there in Bellingham. My youngest son
was born in Bellingham. I have a lot of fond memories of the place. Then we left and we were in California
for twenty one years I guess. I haven‟t really been back much to see the area. I think I took just a little short
tour up there one time and I didn‟t recognize too much!
TB: It has changed!
GP: Well, you put in parking lots and things like that. I remember kind of the way it was, not specifically
the way it is.
TB: Right, well, anything else?
GP: No, I don‟t know what else we can do here that has to do with Campus School and Western. I enjoyed
my time there, I made a lot of lifelong friends, I still have them to this day!
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TB: Can you come up with any good reason why that is? It seems unusual to me, but there are definitely a
lot of you that have kept in contact and consider yourselves to be lifelong friends. I think it‟s wonderful.
GP: Well I‟ll give you an example. Even when you go to the high school reunions, you‟ll see people
around there you haven‟t seen for fifty years and you can‟t recognize them. You can‟t recognize the
women! [Laughter] And if you do, you say, “I wonder who that is, oh, I remember who that was.” No
contact. But automatically, the Campus School kids gravitate toward each other, „Oh yeah, how have you
been?‟ „Let me hear what you’ve been doing!‟ „Oh, that’s too bad!‟ Stuff like that. We sort of have
developed a bond there with the Campus School groups that you associated with and not with anybody
else. It‟s just like the Whatcom kids and the Fairhaven kids; they all group together. Well we‟re the
Campus School group and we kind of group together.
TB: So it‟s just probably because you went to school for so long together.
GP: Something like that.
TB: Okay, well if you don‟t have anything else, that‟s all I have, and I will say thank you very much.
The End

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Gerald Punches Edited Transcript – March 21st, 2006
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©Western Washington University Libraries Special Collections
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED